INDUSTRIAS DEL TRANSPORTE E INFRAESTRUCTURA AERONÁUTICA

Ever notice how some people seem to be able to sell anything to anybody? It’s not that they’re born salespeople. Successful salespeople have studied sales techniques and they know how to apply them. Successful selling is a science as much as an art. This means, if you use your head and try to understand your customer, you can take control of the situation and get the results you want.

Here are seven keys that can help you get the customer to say ‘‘yes’’ at the most critical point in the sale—the closing:

1. Overcome objections. Objections are those reasons your prospects or customers give for not wanting to buy. Sometimes they give you their objec- tions voluntarily; often you have to dig for them. An inexperienced salesper- son will want to gloss over these ‘‘negatives’’ and ignore them. An effective

161 salesperson knows that objections are real barriers that must be confronted head on and surmounted.

Get the person to give you specific objections. You may hear the re- sponse, ‘‘This isn’t a good time for me to buy.’’ Ask, ‘‘Why not?’’ and most of the time you’ll hear the person say, ‘‘I want to think it over.’’ Then ask, ‘‘What do you need to think about?’’ Maybe the person had doubts about your product that you can now clear up. Maybe you haven’t spelled out the benefits in a convincing, compelling fashion yet.

2. Offer reasons to buy now. Prepare some solid reasons as to why the person will benefit from buying now, not later. Perhaps the price is going up or the product will not be available. Don’t use these ploys unless you can be absolutely truthful doing so.

Perhaps your customer is missing out on health benefits or dollars-and- cents savings by procrastinating. Spell out what those losses are: ‘‘You’re losing $5 a week until you buy this product,’’ or, ‘‘You’re endangering your health until you start filtering your drinking water.’’

3. Help the person solve problems. Have the vital information handy. Will the item fit in his work space? Have the dimensions at hand. Memorize the facts or have a ‘‘data sheet’’ handy.

Often people see things they want but the problem is being able to afford them. Solve this by offering different payment plans. Perhaps one customer would be happier making a deposit and paying the balance on delivery. Another person might be more comfortable making monthly in- stallments. Still another prefers paying up front for the stripped-down model without the ‘‘bells and whistles.’’ Be sympathetic to the person’s financial dilemma, listen carefully and offer a solution that fits the individual situa- tion.

4. Narrow the choices. Some customers get confused when they see too many different options. They like this color and that pattern. The more they see, the more complex the decision becomes for them.

Your job is to start eliminating items. Get rid of choices that are too expensive. Then eliminate those that are inappropriate for other reasons. When the customer says, ‘‘Don’t throw out that one,’’ you need to ask, ‘‘What do you like about it?’’

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Once you know exactly what your customer is looking for, usually you can pull it out of your sample case or go right to it in your catalog. Often enough a person who was just making excuses will decide to buy when confronted with the very thing he said he was looking for.

Sometimes a prospect will let you know an item is not quite right. Maybe the person would prefer another color or another style. Then ask, ‘‘If I can get it for you in black, will you buy it?’’

5. Help the person reach a decision. No one wants to be seen as indeci- sive. When you sense that someone has made a selection but not a decision, point out why this is a good choice. As you go back over the benefits, personalize them, making them fit with what you’ve learned about your customer’s needs. Just don’t pressure the person.

6. Ask for the sale. An inexperienced salesperson will wait for the cus- tomer to say, ‘‘I’ll take it.’’ This doesn’t always happen. In fact, some cus- tomers want to be asked. ‘‘May I go ahead and reserve one of these for you? Are you ready to sign up?’’ The way you ask depends on what you’re selling, but don’t be afraid to ask the customer point blank to make the decision to buy.

7. Take ‘‘no’’ for an answer. When your customer says ‘‘no,’’ and means it, don’t let any disappointment show. Some salespeople go from hot to cold at the sound of ‘‘no,’’ leaving the customer to think: all that politeness was just sales technique! Wish the person a good day and keep smiling until you’re out the door . . . you just may have a sale the next time you call.

A T T R A C T I O N P R I N C I P L E  1 8 :

No prospect is indispensable. Another will always come to take his or her place. You become magnetically attractive to prospects by understanding this and not giving off a vibe that makes you seem needy and desperate.

Approximately 675,642 people are born every hour. So don’t worry if you lose a prospect. There will be 675,642 new ones within an hour to take his place.

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Is your market small businesses? There are more than 10 million small businesses in the United States. So if one doesn’t buy from you, there is no shortage of other opportunities to make sales in the small business marketplace.

Salespeople get particularly anxious when courting a potential national account. Yet even national accounts are not irreplaceable. If you are pursu- ing a business opportunity with a Fortune 500 customer, and you lose the competition, there are 499 other Fortune 500 companies to call on. Even better, that same Fortune 500 company has many other divisions that oper- ate somewhat autonomously, and may hire you even when others do not.